Interfaith clergy letter on Sudan peace delivered to White House

From Rev. Jerry Drino via the ENS:

Episcopal, other faith leaders participate in October 2 meeting

By ENS staff, October 02, 2009

[Episcopal News Service] Bishop Suffragan David Jones of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and Alexander Baumgarten, interim director of government relations for the Episcopal Church, joined faith leaders from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish traditions for a meeting at the White House October 2 to present a copy of a letter on comprehensive peace in the Sudan signed by more than 1,400 clergy from across the United States.

The letter, organized by the Sudan Interfaith Working Group, of which the Episcopal Church is a member, urges President Barack Obama to prioritize "efforts that will bring peace to millions that live in violence and fear while lacking the basic services essential for survival."

Read it all here.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren responds to plea for action in Sudan with H.R. 2139

From Rev. Jerry Drino, Hope with Sudan:

Dear Mr. Drino:
Thank you for contacting me urging support for increased global humanitarian assistance.  I wholeheartedly agree with you that global poverty, which often results in hunger, is a pressing issue that we need to do more to help solve.  I appreciate your advocacy on this issue.

I am happy to inform you that, in part due to your advocacy, I have decided to co-sponsor H.R. 2139, the Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act of 2009.  This bill would require President Obama to develop both a
comprehensive strategy for global development, as well as a system for evaluating the effectiveness of foreign assistance.  The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Although I do not sit on this committee, I will do my part to encourage the passage of this legislation.

Read Jerry’s letter and Congresswoman Lofgren’s response here.

African boy's plight spurs donation from Las Palmas girl

From Rev. Michael W. Ridgway via  Off 68:

A 12-year-old African boy who could well have lived and died unknown to any American is being mourned locally by members of the Episcopal church — and particularly by 11-year-old Holly Kasten of Las Palmas Ranch.

Holly, who has epilepsy, was feeling glum about a prolonged seizure she had experienced while swimming when she heard a sermon this past summer by the Right Rev. Mary Gray-Reeves, bishop of the Diocese of El Camino Real.

The bishop described an encounter she had had with a boy named Sadiki while she was traveling on church business in Tanzania with two other bishops.

When the Land Rover the bishops were riding in stopped briefly in the road, Sadiki came racing out of the bush, trying to sell sugar cane. His face was terribly disfigured — it "was one, open, oozing sore," Gray-Reeves said in an interview last week — and a visible expression of horror on her own face caused the driver to speed off.

Read it all